Though it does not please me that Ernst Lubitsch – who, despite his German lineage, is carved into the Mount Rushmore of American sound comedy alongside Howard Hawks, Preston Sturges and Groucho Marx – is little more than a footnote in today’s popular culture, I can at least excuse it as an unavoidable product of … Continue reading →
First off, I apologize for the delay. The holiday week and a few other unforeseen complications got in the way of our prognostication this month. But we’re not about to let it go, since July is bursting with films, especially if you live in an area fed by a decent indie cinema. There’s the big … Continue reading →
Have you been waffling about going to San Diego Comic Con this year?* Sure, you’re thinking, I could go to Con and meet actors and comic creators, be among the first to see footage from upcoming exciting movies, fill the holes in my collections of geek crap for only moderately gouged prices and possibly finally … Continue reading →
Here’s a fun dilemma! I don’t want to break embargo on Ben Affleck’s directorial debut, Gone, Baby, Gone (saw it a couple of weeks ago for long-lead), but I also don’t want to run a link to its just-released theatrical trailer without offering this caveat: what Miramax is selling ain’t the movie by a long … Continue reading →
I love Ang Lee, but I would never try to sell his movies on the power of their lush, romantic imagery; unlike the work of his Taiwanese contemporaries, Hou Hsiao-hsien and the recently deceased Edward Yang (and I’m going off the judgement calls of my peers on the latter, since I’ve only seen Yi Yi), … Continue reading →
The viral marketing campaign for the J.J. Abrams-produced monster flick that was trailered before Transformers has gotten into full swing. It started small with the official site: http://www.1-18-08.com. As Russ previously reported, there’s nothing there but a teaser image, and if you stop there, this doesn’t seem like much of a campaign. But then word … Continue reading →
If there’s one thing I learned from living within gimlet-hurling distance of New England for five years, it’s that you don’t want to come down on the wrong side of the Essex-Bedford turf war. John Cheever made this mistake early in his literary career, and was buried toe-less as a result. And today, as you … Continue reading →
This doesn’t do much for the "leave it the fuck alone" camp, but it’s certainly better than the previous alternative… I think. According to Variety, Zak Penn has pulled rewriting duty on Joel Silver’s The Dirty Dozen remake, which will hopefully be a page one overhaul since Scott Rosenberg’s first pass was… lacking. Let’s see… … Continue reading →
The coolest thing about Transformers was the teaser for Cloverfield. Or the Untitled J. J. Abrams Project. Or, as the title may now actually be, 1-18-08. A website bearing that name and URL (1-18-08.com) has surfaced featuring only a still from the teaser watermarked with the date. And Paramount’s marketers aren’t as geek-friendly as Warner … Continue reading →